Did 2017 Miami Hurricanes put the FSU hangover to rest?

There has been a lot of talk in the past if the Miami Hurricanes have a hangover effect after playing Florida State. The 2017 Miami Hurricanes won six straight games after playing the Seminoles as part of a ten game winning streak to begin the season.

The six-game streak after defeating Florida State was part of a 15 game winning streak overall spanning the 2016 and 2017 seasons. The Miami Hurricanes won five straight to end 2016 and 10 straight to begin 2017.

In past years there have been mixed results. In Mark Richt’s first season a 20-19 loss to Florida State sent the Miami Hurricanes to the first of four straight losses to drop to 4-4 after a 4-0 start. Miami turned it around after that with a four-game winning streak.

Being able to keep the momentum going this season is critical if they hope to repeat their ACC Coastal Division championship and get back to the ACC Championship game. After Saturday’s trip to Charlottesville Miami will get some time to regroup in the next two weeks before they travel to Boston College on October 26.

The Hurricanes are on bye next week. That will give Miami Hurricanes Head Coach Mark Richt and his staff a chance to reassess everything with seven games played and five left in the regular season. The players will get a chance to rest their minds and bodies.

Many prognosticators are looking at last week’s emotional victory over Florida State and the fact that Virginia played Miami tough last season as reasons that the Hurricanes are primed for an upset this weekend against the Cavaliers. Is it the Florida State affect or something else?

Miami is also playing Virginia in Charlottesville. Can that make a difference? Richt likes the fact that the Canes are playing the Cavs on the road.

"“In away games, there’s nothing to do but focus on the game, focus on your job, focus on my call sheet, focus on the last-minute things you want to do to prepare as a coach and a player…And there’s a little bit to being the team that everybody’s trying to beat, everybody’s against you, it’s us against them. That mentality does resonate with players, so I think there’s some value to it.”"

Miami is 3-4 all-time at Virginia. They won in 2016, but before that had a three-game losing streak. The Hurricanes have it’s third highest probability of winning their final six games of 2018. ESPN’s Football Power Index lists the Hurricanes as a 73.8 percent probability to win.

Boston College in two weeks is going to be one of the Miami Hurricanes toughest games this season. The game with the Eagles begins a four-game stretch of games in which Miami is no more than a 61.9 percent favorite according to the FPI. Duke at home October 26 is the only game in that stretch with a higher projection to win.

Defeating Florida State instead of losing should greatly reduce the conspiracy theory of the Florida State hangover. A seven-game losing streak to the Seminoles ended last season. Now the hangover could be in Tallahassee. Florida State could have easily won the last two games against Miami.

Will the Seminoles be thinking too much about their losses the last two seasons to Miami or can they put those behind them or will they have a turnover from Hurricanes?